L.'s Valentine's Day Present (and a giveaway for you!)

Partly to combat the people who claim that Valentine's Day is just a "Hallmark holiday," I never buy anything for anyone when I give gifts.* Plus, there are very few avenues in my life in which I get to put my creativity to use, so I get really excited about the opportunity to make something cute and fun for L!

L. ended up pulling out all the stops, taking me out to a romantic (and delicious!) steak dinner at Mezze, one of the nicer restaurants in Williamstown. He also got us a bottle of champagne and a nice hotel room--sometimes, just having the time to spend by ourselves, off-campus, out of the common room with all our suitemates hovering around participating in our relationship, with no reading packets allowed is the most romantic thing we could do!

L.'s favorite cupcakes are Red Velvet, and so I ran with the idea and decided to modify the recipe and make Red Velvet cookies! I decided to make two kinds--a light, crisp butter cookie dipped in white chocolate, and a thick, rich, chewy cake-cookie sandwich with buttercream frosting. (He doesn't like cream cheese!!! So sad, it's one of my favorites.)

Here's how they turned out:



They were SO DELICIOUS.

I'm trying so hard to eat well this week, but it's going to be VERY hard. Friday we're having L.'s birthday party, Saturday is 100 Days, a senior party (celebrating the fact that we have only--!!!--100 days until graduation!) with an open bar and tons of treats, and Sunday is L.'s actual birthday, for which we're having a mexican fiesta and then the Oscars are right after!

SPEAKING of presents, I have one for you guys because I <3 you! Check back either tomorrow or early Thursday for a giveaway post!! xoxo [*One "store-bought" thing I don't really object to is flowers. I don't expect anyone to be cultivating their own roses for Valentine's Day! Also, if you love to buy chocolates and greeting cards for V-day, that's your thing! I'm just talking about my preferences.]